The group continued on their way down the main path of the Great Forest after leaving the troll camp behind.

And while the first few hours passed with complete normalcy, that didn’t last long, since the day’s first enemy didn’t take long to appear.

It was a bee the size of a horse that descended from the treetops with a buzzing so loud it made the ground vibrate.

Rose didn’t even stop to look at it; she simply raised a hand while continuing to walk and a bolt of black fire shot out from her palm, striking the bee in midair and charring it before it could get close to them.

The bee’s remains fell and scattered its insides all over the ground.

"How gross..." said Rose as she passed by the bee’s corpse.

Just half an hour later, two enormous spiders appeared, emerging from between the roots of one of the giant trees.

These were the same type that Mark had seen in the Demon Lord’s dungeon, with hairy bodies the size of a cart and jaws dripping a greenish liquid.

Ely cut the first one in half before it even finished coming out of its hiding place.

Yuki appeared behind the second one and drove both her daggers into its head from above, killing it instantly.

"Next," said Ely, shaking her sword.

Yuki didn’t say anything and simply disappeared back into the trees.

Up until that point everything was going well, but as the hours went by, the frequency of the attacks began to increase without stopping.

First came a group of water and fire slimes, followed by three enormous wild boars, then a group of five abnormally large wolves that came running out of the brush with bloodshot eyes.

After that appeared a group of approximately twenty goblins that came out from between the trees carrying sticks, stones, and what appeared to be sharpened bones.

Alice crushed the first five goblins with her bare fists before the rest could even register what was happening.

Ely cut another seven in a single arc of her sword.

And Rose burned the rest with an area spell that left a circle of scorched grass on the ground.

"Pathetic," said Rose, brushing off her hands.

But ten minutes later, more appeared.

And more.

And more.

Goblins, spiders, deformed wolves, giant insects, etc.

They came pouring out from between the trees, from under the roots, from the treetops, from everywhere, as if the entire forest had decided to focus its attention solely on them.

And while not a single one of those enemies posed even the slightest danger to Mark’s group, since his subordinates eliminated them with the same ease that someone crushes ants.

The numbers just kept growing.

Mark walked in the center of the formation alongside Zilu and Aria while around him the others dispatched wave after wave of creatures without breaking a sweat.

"How many is that now?" he asked aloud, watching as another group of goblins appeared between the trees only to be met by Ely.

Ely turned to look at him while finishing off a particularly fat and tall goblin that was lying on the ground trying to crawl away from her.

"I don’t know, Master," she said, shaking her sword to clean the blood off it. "I lost count a while ago."

"Approximately two hundred or more," said Alice from the other side of the path, stepping on the skulls of two goblins writhing on the ground.

"All of this is a fucking pain in the ass" complained Rose from further back, raising a hand toward a group of goblins trying to flee between the trees.

A purple bolt shot out from her palm and caught all of them at the same time, causing their bodies to fall to the ground one after another like dominoes.

"Can’t they just stop appearing?" Rose added, lowering her hand with an expression of exasperation.

Mark was silently listening to the others when Zilu spoke beside him.

"This is strange..." she said, her ears completely upright and twitching nervously in all directions.

Mark looked at her.

"While the Great Forest is a dangerous place," Zilu continued with a frown, "the number of enemies that have attacked us isn’t normal."

"It isn’t?"

"No..." said Zilu, shaking her head. "Goblins, for example, are ambush creatures. They hide waiting for their prey to drop their guard and attack when they have numerical and positional advantage."

"And?"

"And these ones just run straight at us erratically," she said, pointing to the corpses scattered along the path.

Zilu paused while looking at the goblin bodies.

"It’s like something has driven all the creatures in the Great Forest into a frenzy," she said, lowering her voice.

’Could what happened at the troll camp have something to do with all of this?’ Mark thought, looking around.

"Don’t worry, Zilu," said Aria, moving closer to her with a carefree tone. "It’s probably nothing important."

Zilu listened to her in silence.

"Besides, according to the map we’re already about to leave the Great Forest," Aria continued, shrugging her shoulders. "A little more and we’ll reach the plains, so whatever is happening here will soon stop being our problem."

"...You’re right, Miss Aria. I’m probably just overthinking things."

"Of course I’m right!" said Aria with a smile. "I’m always right, aren’t I, Master?"

Aria looked at Mark seeking his confirmation.

"I hope so," responded Mark, lost in his thoughts.

Aria puffed out her cheeks slightly at the lack of interest and enthusiasm in Mark’s response but said nothing more.

The group continued walking and the attacks gradually spaced out as they advanced, as if they were leaving behind the area where the creatures had concentrated.

The last ones to appear were a group of straggling goblins that came stumbling out from behind some rocks beside the path, but these were quickly eliminated by Ely.

"There, that was the last one," said Ely, sheathing her sword with satisfaction.

"Well done, Ely," Mark praised her.

But suddenly Yuki’s voice rang out with urgency.

"Get ready!" she shouted from somewhere among the treetops. "Something very large is approaching fast from above!"

"..."

"You just had to open your mouth, didn’t you?" said Rose, looking at Ely with an expression of annoyance.

Ely only responded with an embarrassed laugh because she immediately noticed something enormous moving between the treetops.

Branches cracked, leaves cascaded down, and then the enemy revealed itself.

It was a giant serpent.

Its body was as thick as the trunk of one of the forest’s giant trees and so long that Mark couldn’t see where it ended because it disappeared among the treetops.

Its scales were a dark green and shimmered with a wet reflection under the little light that filtered through the leaves.

Then the creature’s head descended slowly from above, making its way through the branches until it hung suspended in the middle of the main path, about ten meters high.

Rose let out a long sigh and passed a hand across her face.

"This never ends..."